Background. The epidemiology, clinical course, and outcomes of patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in the Russian population are unknown. Information on the differences between laboratory-confirmed and clinically diagnosed COVID-19 in real-life settings is lacking. Methods. We extracted data from the medical records of adult patients who were consecutively admitted for suspected COVID-19 infection in Moscow between 8 April and 28 May 2020. Results. Of the 4261 patients hospitalized for suspected COVID-19, outcomes were available for 3480 patients (median age, 56 years; interquartile range, 45-66). The most common comorbidities were hypertension, obesity, chronic cardiovascular disease, and diabetes. Half of the patients (n = 1728) had a positive reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), while 1748 had a negative RT-PCR but had clinical symptoms and characteristic computed tomography signs suggestive of COVID-19. No significant differences in frequency of symptoms, laboratory test results, and risk factors for in-hospital mortality were found between those exclusively clinically diagnosed or with positive severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) RT-PCR. In a multivariable logistic regression model the following were associated with in-hospital mortality: older age (per 1-year increase; odds ratio, 1.05; 95% confidence interval, 1.03-1.06), male sex (1.71; 1.24-2.37), chronic kidney disease (2.99; 1.89-4.64), diabetes (2.1; 1.46-2.99), chronic cardiovascular disease (1.78; 1.24-2.57), and dementia (2.73; 1.34-5.47). Conclusions. Age, male sex, and chronic comorbidities were risk factors for in-hospital mortality. The combination of clinical features was sufficient to diagnose COVID-19 infection, indicating that laboratory testing is not critical in real-life clinical practice.

The objective of the present study was to evaluate of serum metal levels in COVID-19 patients with different disease severity, and to investigate the independent association between serum metal profile and markers of lung damage. The cohort of COVID-19 patients consisted of groups of subjects with mild, moderate, and severe illness, 50 examinees each. Forty-four healthy subjects of the respective age were involved in the current study as the control group. Serum metal levels were evaluated using inductively-coupled plasma mass-spectrometry. Examination of COVID-19 patients demonstrated that heart rate, respiratory rate, body temperature, C-reactive protein levels, as well as lung damage increased significantly with COVID-19 severity, whereas SpO2 decreased gradually. Increasing COVID-19 severity was also associated with a significant gradual decrease in serum Ca, Fe, Se, Zn levels as compared to controls, whereas serum Cu and especially Cu/Zn ratio were elevated. No significant group differences in serum Mg and Mn levels were observed. Serum Ca, Fe, Se, Zn correlated positively with SpO2, being inversely associated with fever, lung damage, and C-reactive protein concentrations. Opposite correlations were observed for Cu and Cu/Zn ratio. In regression models, serum Se levels were inversely associated with lung damage independently of other markers of disease severity, anthropometric, biochemical, and hemostatic parameters. Cu/Zn ratio was also considered as a significant predictor of lower SpO2 in adjusted regression models. Taken together, these findings demonstrated that metal metabolism significantly interferes with COVID-19 pathogenesis, although the causal relations as well as precise mechanisms are yet to be characterized.

The research biobanking field is developing rapidly in Russia. Over the course of the last decade, numerous biobanks were created or formed from existing collections of human and environmental biospecimens. The Russian National Association of Biobanks and Biobanking Specialists (NASBIO) was established in December 2018, aiming to: (1) unite professionals and research centers to create and develop a network of biobanks in Russia; (2) provide services and expertise in the field of biobanking; (3) execute various research projects utilizing biobanks' infrastructure; and (4) facilitate integration of Russian biomedical research centers into global research activities. The organizational structure, aims, and plans of this newly formed national association are reviewed in this article. The founders of NASBIO hope that the association will promote further development of biobanks and their networking in Russia, which is critically important for the success of national biomedical, pharmaceutical, and biotechnological research, and can facilitate international biobanking projects on a global scale.

It was shown that carrying out the reaction of cholesterol photosensitized oxidation in the presence of porphyrins immobilized on the hydrolyzed copolymer of tetrafluorethylene and H + form of perfluoro-3,6-dioxo-5-methyl-6-sulfonylfluorideoctene-1 leads to the formation of not previously described new products: 6β-phormyl-B-norcholestan-3β,5β-diol, 6β-chlorocholestan-3β,5α-diol, cholestan-3β,5α,6β-triol, and 5α-chlorocholestan-3β,6β-diol.

The procedure for the parameterization of complex surface structures is proposed on the basis of the analysis of spatial “series” formed by the projections on the coordinate axes of roughness profiles recorded during the surface scanning with the sensitive element of atomic force microscope. To extract parameters of thus obtained “spatial series,” flicker-noise spectroscopy is used that allows retrieval of information relevant to specific (“resonance”) and nonspecific (chaotic) components of analyzed complex signals.

The kinetic characteristics of the photooxidation of cholesterin in the presence of substituted tetraphenylporphyrins (TPPs) with terminal amino groups immobilized in MF-4SK perfluorated sulfocationic copolymer were determined. The presence of a free amino group was demonstrated to provide a strong bonding of TPP molecules to the copolymer. The activity of the obtained polymeric catalysts for the oxidation of cholesterin depends on the length of the hydrocarbon chain between the amino group and the porphin ring. The most efficient systems were obtained on the basis of 5-[n-capronoyl- (or undecanoyl-)aminophenyl]-10,15,20-triphenylporphyrin.

The small-angle X-ray - scattering a technique was employed to compare the effects of water, ethanol, chloroform, carbon tetrachloride, dioxane, ethyl acetate, and ethanol-chloroform mixtures on the structure of perfluorinated sulfocationic membranes MF-4SK. It was shown that the replacement of the initial solvent (water) by ethanol appreciably disorders the nanostructure of the membranes, while chloroform, carbon tetrachloride, dioxane, and ethyl acetate markedly narrow their ionic channels. The use of ethanol-chloroform mixtures of specified compositions made it possible to preserve the structure of MF-4SK membranes close to their structure in water.

This work is to show that activity of porphyrins in singlet oxygen generation (SOG) is determined not only by their molecular structure but also by supramolecular structure of porphyrin containing systems. This is demonstrated by results of studies of SOG in the gas phase by vacuum deposited tetraphenylporphyrin (TPP) layers under photoexcitation conditions. The structure of the layers was studied by atomic force microscopy (AFM), TEM in diffraction regime (TED) and by the flicker-noise spectroscopy (FNS) method. It was shown that substrates affect the deposited layers structure only at earlier stages of the layer formation. AFM and TED data, together with FNS quantitative parameters of TPP layers, show directly that the chemical activity of solid-phase systems can be determined not only by their chemical nature but also by their supramolecular structure.

The kinetic parameters of the cholesterol (in water) and tryptophane (in organic solvents) photooxidation sensitized by aminoacid derivatives of tetraphenylporphyrin immobilized on MF-4SK sulfocationic copolymer (analogue of N afion 117) were determined. It was shown that the activity of investigated systems depends on supramolecular structure of the polymer and on the type of porphyrin-polymer binding in organic solvents. In water, activity of investigated systems depends on supramolecular structure of the polymer only.